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they looked into his. She shook back her hair, turning his system into one pulsing gland. “This is now. Fall into the moment with me, Ryan. I don’t want to go there alone.”
    Their gazes remained locked as he carried her through the doorway into the bedroom. “Then let’s see how long now can last. And remember, Dr. Jones.” He caught her bottom lip in his teeth, bit, tugged, released. “You asked for it.”
    They fell on the bed together, with the moonlight streaming through the doors and shadows dancing in the corners. The weight of him thrilled her, the hard lines of his body pressing hers onto the mattress. Their mouths met again in a kiss that was near violent with greed, then went on and on with tongues hotly tangled, teeth nipping.
    She wanted all, then more. Everything, then the impossible. And knew with him she’d find it.
    She molded herself to him, unwilling to take the passive role now. The rough movements made her head spin, her breath come out on moaning laughter. Oh God, she was free. And alive, so alive. In her rush to feel flesh, she tugged at his shirt, popping buttons off the elegant silk.
    “Oh yes,” she whispered when he ripped the sleeve of her blouse. “Hurry.”
    He couldn’t have slowed the pace any more than he could stop time. His quick and clever hands were rough as they yanked off her bra, then filled themselves with her breasts.

    White as marble, soft as water.
    When touch wasn’t enough, he twisted her under him again and devoured.
    She cried out, arching as his lips and teeth and tongue laid siege to her. Her nails dug into his back, scraped along the tensed ridge of muscle as shock waves of pleasure swarmed through her body. Sensations slammed into her in a riotous confusion of glorious aches and dark delights and raw nerves.
    “Now. Now. Right now.”
    But his mouth streaked down her torso. Not yet. Not nearly yet.
    He yanked the neat cotton slacks down her hips and plunged his tongue into the center of that driving heat. She came instantly, violently, all but paralyzing them both with the glory of it. She sobbed out his name, her fingers tangling in his hair as release built back to need, and need ground desperately toward demand.
    Her body was a miracle, a work of art, with long legs and torso, milk-pale skin, quivering muscles. He wanted to savor it, to lick his way up, then down again. He wanted to bury his face in that free fall of hair until he was deaf and blind.
    But the animal inside him clawed frantically for freedom.
    They rolled again, wrestling over the bed and tormenting each other with nips and gropes.
    Vision blurred, lungs burned as another orgasm erupted, raging through her system, spiking it with outrageous energy. Her breath was a series of short screams burning in her chest, her body unbearably awake to every touch, every taste.
    His face seemed to swim over hers, then came into focus, every feature distinct as if etched with a diamond on glass. Their breath mingled, her hips arched up. And he drove into her.
    All movement stopped for one humming and timeless instant. Joined, with him buried deep inside her, they watched each other. Slowly, in one long stroke, she took her hands down his back, then gripped his hips.

    Together, they began to move, the speed building and rising, bodies slick with sweat sliding, pleasure tumbling over pleasure until it battered the system and overpowered the mind.
    All, and then more, she thought dizzily as she climbed toward the peak. Everything, then the impossible. She found it as she clamped herself around him and shattered.

nineteen
    I t was the brilliant wash of sunlight that woke her. For one horrible moment, she thought her eyes were on fire, and beat on them with her open palms before she was fully coherent.
    She discovered she was not spontaneously combusting. And that she was not alone in bed. The best she could manage was a muffled moan as she squeezed her aching eyes shut again.
    What had she done?
    Well, it was pretty obvious what she’d done—in fact, if memory served, she’d done it twice. In between which, Ryan had made her swallow three aspirin and a small ocean of water. She supposed it was that small consideration that was currently keeping her head in place on her shoulders.
    Cautiously, she slid her glance over. He was flat on his stomach, his face buried in the pillow. She imagined he wasn’t too wild about the brilliance of the sun either, but neither of them had had their mind on